Brian Desmond's Blog : IT

Zune Error

Brian Desmond's Blog — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 22:21:59 GMT

Apparently the error below from Zune is indicative of some sort of problem with your DRM data. The redirect is to KB 929642 which of course doesn't list the error message, but it was a useful clue. --------------------------- Zune ---------------...(read more)

Word Tip - The Draft View Gutter

Brian Desmond's Blog — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 15:34:45 GMT

Since I've been living in Microsoft Word lately, I figured why not take some time for a couple more handy Word tricks. This one is about getting a gutter to show up in Draft view so you can see what styles have been applied to text. If you've...(read more)

Word Tip - Outline View and Document Map

Brian Desmond's Blog — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 15:12:53 GMT

Another handy Word tip today is using Outline view to work with big documents. If you've got a sizeable document, chances are your document is also structured hierarchically. By this I mean that you are probably using multiple levels of Heading styles...(read more)

MSDTC Exits on PDCe Transfer

Brian Desmond's Blog — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 03:44:00 GMT

One of my colleagues reported an issue at a customer this past weekend where every time he transferred FSMO roles, MOM would report that the MS DTC (distribution transaction coordinator) service had terminated unexpectedly on all the domain controllers...(read more)

Formulas in Word

Brian Desmond's Blog — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 20:20:08 GMT

I discovered this afternoon that you can insert simple formulas in Microsoft Word tables, at least in Word 2007. This is really pretty helpful when you just need to do something simple like sum a column or row and don't want to build the table in...(read more)

Authoritative Restores

Brian Desmond's Blog — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 22:02:00 GMT

So I'm working on a project which involves some documentation around disaster recovery and I flagged a word in the text for the technical reviewers to suggest a better word (BCD40). The feedback I got really made me laugh: Share this post: email it...(read more)

Update on the MCSE Upgrade

Brian Desmond's Blog — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 07:32:15 GMT

I was complaining (more or less) several weeks ago about the amount of work it was going to take to upgrade my MCSE to the latest version. The good news is I went and did the Windows end of things and now I'm apparently an "MCITP: Enterprise...(read more)

Running with a Third Screen on my Desk

Brian Desmond's Blog — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 07:14:00 GMT

Scott's post prompted this post as I've found that unlike Scott, my recent upgrade to a third screen is really helpful. I run with two PCs under my desk. One PC is a simple Dell tower with 4GB of RAM, a dual core chip in it and a couple of SATA...(read more)

Unblocking Windows Update

Brian Desmond's Blog — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 22:14:43 GMT

If you've ever gotten the error below when you go to Windows Update on a machine or Windows Update is completely missing from the Tools menu in Internet Explorer, it's fortunately an easy registry change to temporarily back out. Network policy...(read more)

At TechEd Next Week

Brian Desmond's Blog — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 03:28:31 GMT

I'll be down in Orlando at TechEd IT Pro next week. I'm working a booth of some fashion in the Technical Learning Center most of the week I'm told, so feel free to drop in and say hello if you're in town as well. Share this post: email...(read more)

Updated Error Code Lookup Tool

Brian Desmond's Blog — Fri, 30 May 2008 04:19:00 GMT

The Microsoft error code lookup tool (which no Windows admin should be without) got updated today: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=be596899-7bb8-4208-b7fc-09e02a13696c&displaylang=en&tm . While it says it's for Exchange...(read more)

Getting Total Installed Memory with WMI

Brian Desmond's Blog — Thu, 29 May 2008 21:24:00 GMT

Getting the amount of memory installed in a machine with WMI is a bit confusing particuarly if you only read the docs partially. I was initially using Win32_ComputerSystem::TotalPhysicalMemory, but the documentation warns "Be aware that, under some...(read more)

Impromptu Hard Drive Refresh - Thanks Acronis

Brian Desmond's Blog — Tue, 20 May 2008 03:43:21 GMT

I fix other people's computers and IT problems all day, so the last thing I really feel like doing is fixing my own computer problems at home. My personal workstation decided to blue screen earlier in the evening which was nice. It was one of those...(read more)

Group Policy Editor Shortcuts

Brian Desmond's Blog — Sat, 17 May 2008 18:50:22 GMT

I came across these shortcuts today for navigating the group policy editor and thought they'd be worth sharing. They're holdovers from Windows Explorer that also work in the GPO editor. If you press * while targeting a folder in the console, the...(read more)

Getting Rid of Apple Software Update

Brian Desmond's Blog — Sat, 10 May 2008 03:17:59 GMT

I had to load Quicktime on my PC for one reason or another in the past few months. It's not generally a package I load, but, apparently I needed it for some reason. I of course did the extra legwork to find the Quicktime installer that didn't...(read more)

Windows 2003 Forest Functional Level

Brian Desmond's Blog — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 05:34:00 GMT

Thought I'd post an informational post for folks who are moving an AD forest to Windows 2003 forest functional level (aka FFL2) as I realized today this piece of information might not be quite as well known as I might have thought. As an FYI, this...(read more)

Upgrading my MCSE

Brian Desmond's Blog — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 05:38:00 GMT

So I have an MCSE: Messaging 2003. Took something like 7 or 8 tests to get that way back when and it's still good. Being the good consultant that I am I decided I'd figure out what I need to do to get whatever the new equivelants are on Windows...(read more)

Forcing a Blue Screen via iLO

Brian Desmond's Blog — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 05:03:00 GMT

Sometimes one of the most useful resources at your disposal when troubleshooting a hang or other issues is the memory dump file Windows will write out during a blue screen. If a system is hung and you are not able to get to it locally, pressing Ctrl+ScrollLock...(read more)

Loading VMWare 6 Tools on 2008 Server Core

Brian Desmond's Blog — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 04:37:00 GMT

Normally in VMWare when you go "VM>Install VMWare Tools..." with a Windows guest, autorun kicks right in and the installer launches. On server core this isn't the case. You need to launch the MSI by hand. To do this, swich to your CD...(read more)

How to Sysprep in Windows 2008

Brian Desmond's Blog — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 03:43:00 GMT

I thought I'd document how to setup the new sysprep process equivalent on Windows 2008 since the old setupmgr file for making sysprep.inf's doesn't exist anymore (and neither does sysprep.inf). The first step is acquiring the Windows Automated...(read more)